Texans' Robinson up to speed after injury

Robinson reflects on threat to careerTexans corner comes full circle after leg injuries

STEVE CAMPBELL, Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Friday, December 19, 2008

Photo: Brett Coomer, Chronicle

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Dunta Robinson's 2007 season ended in the first quarter of a 24-17 win over the Raiders when he tore his ACL and hamstring while assisting on a tackle.

Dunta Robinson's 2007 season ended in the first quarter of a 24-17 win over the Raiders when he tore his ACL and hamstring while assisting on a tackle.

Photo: Brett Coomer, Chronicle

Texans' Robinson up to speed after injury

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Dunta Robinson woke up the morning of the game with a peculiar feeling.

He’d never felt that way. He hasn’t felt that way since.

“I said, ‘OK, something is different; either I’m going to have a spectacular game, or something really bad is going to happen,’ ” Robinson said. “And of course option No. 2 is what occurred.”

Robinson absorbed a Molotov cocktail of injuries on one play of that Nov. 4, 2007, game against the Oakland Raiders. Late in the first quarter of a 24-17 Texans victory, Robinson shredded his right hamstring and anterior cruciate ligament.

Barely 13 months after his career-threatening injuries, Robinson has re-established himself as a valuable member of the Texans’ defense. Robinson will make a triumphant return to McAfee Coliseum on Sunday, when the Texans put their franchise-record, four-game winning streak to the test.

“For him to walk on that field this week after the way he’s played this year and come back has got to be something special for him to think about,” coach Gary Kubiak said. “I remember him laying there and then putting him on the cart during that game, and it was devastating. He deserves the credit for making it back that way, and he’s playing really well right now.”

If Robinson has his way, a return to Oakland will not provoke much reflection. Robinson, 26, said he hasn’t seen clips of the play that forced him to re-learn how to play cornerback.

“I’ll walk out and I’ll think about it, and then it’s time to play football,” Robinson said. “It’s just not something that I want to revisit.”

The play that ended Robinson’s 2007 season didn’t even count, erased by a holding penalty on the Raiders. Receiver Ronald Curry ran an in route, and Robinson’s leg got caught in an awkward position while he was making the tackle. Then 280-pound Texans lineman Earl Cochran landed on Robinson.

“I couldn’t get my leg out,” Robinson said. “I just had to go for the ride. I screamed, so Earl kind of slid off my back a little bit. There was actually no pain. I really didn’t feel anything. Even after it was over, I thought maybe I could get up. But I looked at my leg, and was pointed in a direction I wasn’t used to it being. So I said, ‘OK, it’s pretty bad.’ ”

Dr. James Andrews performed the reconstructive surgeries, at which point Robinson began to experience pain commensurate with the damage to his hamstring and knee. Robinson slept fitfully for months, propping his leg on pillows and taking muscle relaxers at night. With the five-year veteran who linebacker DeMeco Ryans describes as “the guy I looked up to” on the physically unable to perform list at the start of this season, the Texans lost their first four games and allowed 130 points.

Inspired teammates

“He’s a guy we definitely had been missing,” Ryans said. “Dunta is a guy who brings big-time plays.

“Everybody saw the way he battled back. A lot of people were speculating that it would be a career-ending injury. Just to see his fight, his work ethic, his attitude about being back out there, just uplifts your spirits.”

Robinson (5-10, 184 pounds) was playing at what Kubiak considered a Pro Bowl level before the injury. In Game 6 this season, after only three days of practice with the team, Robinson returned. He had two solo tackles in a 28-21 victory over Detroit.

“You’re really not sure what’s going to happen,” said Robinson, a 2004 first-round pick who has 31 tackles and two interceptions this season. “You’re really not sure if the knee is going to hold up. You’re really not sure if you’re as fast as you were. All those things go through your mind.

“I’m not trying to be an inspiration. I love to play football, and that’s the bottom line.”

The Texans were 3-7 when the coaching staff decided it had enough confidence in Robinson, who can become a free agent after the season, to insert him into the starting lineup. In what Kubiak considers a related development, the Texans have positioned themselves for the first winning season in franchise history.

“He’s working real hard at his trade,” Kubiak said. “He studies a ton of film. He went back and studied himself before the injury. He studied himself after the injury. That’s important to him. We all understand it’s an important time in his career, and he has really responded.

“He may be small, but he brings some aggression to all our players the way he tackles as a corner. There are corners in this league who can cover. Then, there are some that will tackle. He’ll do both.”

In the first 10 games this season, the Texans allowed 28.7 points per game, a 65.2 percent completion rate and a 99.3 pass-efficiency rating. In the past four games, the Texans have allowed 14.0 points, a 55.4 percent completion rate and a 64.5 pass-efficiency rating.

Desire to improve

“It’s been good so far,” Robinson said. “But I always set goals super-high for myself. I’m going to remain hard on myself. That’s the biggest thing — never feeling like I’ve achieved everything that I want to. Every Sunday, my goal is to be better than I was last week. That’s the type of player I was before I got hurt, and that’s the type of player I’m trying to continue to be.”

Just the same, Robinson would appreciate it if he doesn’t wake up with same feeling he had the last trip to Oakland.